Alex's Adventures on the Infobahn - jobs

RiP

2011-10-06T12:13:00+01:00

Today the tech-world has lost one of those rarest of things, a tech geek with name recognition. Steve Jobs and the company he founded with the lesser know Steve Wozniak is now a technology giant with operating profits and margins that most oil companies only dream of. It is all the more remarkable given Apple's turbulent history from early home computer pioneer to near death experience in the 80s (when Jobs was ousted) followed by one of the most successful corporate turnarounds in history. Jobs' return to Apple coincided with the release of the iconic iMac, soon to be followed by the iPod and of course now the ubiquitous iPhone.

In the early days Apple was pioneering as the nascent home computer market was finding it's way into the homes of the world. Arguably their most successful product, the iPod, was not a new innovation. Where Apple made up for this was in their execution. A lot of this is a tribute to Jobs' laser sharp focus on usability. The new Apple did not ship something half working and then worry about fixing it later in software. Nothing was shipped from Cupertino until Jobs was happy they had created a product that worked beautifully and would instantly promote the desire to own one when you played with it. The success of the Apple store is down to the fact that once you've touched and fondled their products parting with your cash seems like such a sensible idea.

I have many criticisms of Apple and the way they conduct business in their walled garden. For this reason I'm not a big user of their products or technology. However I happily concede that Apple under Jobs' leadership have done more for advancing the vision how technology can improve peoples personal world than most companies in the tech sector. A world without Jobs' vision and focus is certainly a poorer one and he deserves his place in the history books for what he achieved.

Busy busy bee

2011-01-25T11:14:00+00:00

One reason my posting rate has dropped off so massively is I've been really busy at work. So busy that my capacity for intellectual thought in the evening is reduced to slobbing on the sofa watching DVDs or occasionally firing up CoD in split-screen and killing people with my wife.

While I delivered my main project more or less on time at the beginning of January it's having more teething problems than most releases. This is in part due to it being a rather major upgrade, including the base OS being upgraded. However I have also just been given extra responsibilities for a part of the embedded product which has rather aggressive deadlines of it's own. We were hoping to go skiing at the end of February/Early March with the rest of the family but until I get a handle on things it's hard to predict if we can.

I suppose with everything else that's going on it's good that we are so busy because we can't hire engineers fast enough as the company is growing quite strongly. There are worse problems to have I'm sure.

The Moon on a Stick Paradox

2009-01-19T11:48:00+00:00

I went and did my initial sign on for JSA last week. The process was mainly painless although a little delayed due to the office being quite busy. As far as I could tell the first floor was given over to new claims (and possibly follow-ups) as the normal sign on location is downstairs. Talking to one of the agents she confirmed they are currently rushed off their feet with new cases. The new claims started to pick up last November and have been going strong ever since. The agents were keen to point out there are things the job centre will pay for including travel to interviews. However when I enquired about local VC Meet N' Greets and the possibility of paying exam fees for certification I drew apologetic shrugs. The phrase used was the rather charming "We are not really set up for people as job ready as you". So as long as I write to at least one agency/company a week and read the relevant job postings I'm good for about 3 months before they review my l33t job hunting skills.

This brings me to the most frustrating aspect of the process which is dealing with some of the agencies. People I've dealt with before I usually pretty clued up but some of the agencies (at the behest of their clients) are suffering from the Moon on a Stick paradox. The reasoning seems to be because of the current economic climate the world is awash with available engineers. The result they conclude is if they wait long enough they can hire (cheaply) someone who ticks every box. It's a slightly more acute form of TLA bingo that lead to my meta-morphing CV to ensure which-ever combination of my skills someone may want can be found.

It's ultimately a short sighted approach as the value of an engineer isn't in having done exactly the same in his old job as you want him to do now. Once you've learned a few languages (say something system level, a modern scripting language and maybe a bit of XML/HTML) picking up new languages is pretty easy. It goes doubly so for libraries which one would hope you chose for your implementation because they are well documented and consistent. I'll freely admit to not having the entire C99 spec memorised in my head or comprehensive knowledge of CPAN. If I'm not sure about something I'll read the man page or the source code. Frankly I'd be suspicious of anyone who claimed they didn't need to.